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Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes'
Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of
commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in
the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at
sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan and ending the following
evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a
day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are
held throughout the country. The central ceremonies, in the evening
and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast
on the television. Marking the start of the day-in the presence of
the President of the State of Israel and
the Prime
Minister-dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their
families, gather together with the general public to take part in
the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in which six torches,
representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit. The following
morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a
siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the
duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the
streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody
stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the
Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the
laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and
the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites
of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools,
military bases, municipalities and places of work. Throughout the
day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the
Holocaust. In recent years, other countries and Jewish communities
have adopted Yom Hashoah, the 27th of Nisan, to mark their own day
of memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day begins this year on
Monday evening, April 28th, 2003 and continues Tuesday, April 29th,
2003. |